The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection today announced the opening days of the upcoming fall firearms hunting seasons, including fall firearms turkey season starting today and continuing through Oct. 31.

The regular waterfowl season will begin Oct. 13, and small game hunting season opens at 7 a.m. Oct. 20 for pheasant, bobwhite quail, ruffed grouse, chukar partridge, crow and cottontail rabbit.

The firearms deer season will begin Nov. 14.

Junior hunter training days for waterfowl will be Saturday and Nov. 3; for pheasants on Oct. 13 on private land only; for deer on Nov. 3 and Nov. 10.

Increased opportunities for small game hunting on some of the highest quality state-owned areas occur at Babcock Pond Wildlife Management Area in Colchester; Bear Hill Wildlife Management Area in Bozrah; Goshen Wildlife Management Area in Goshen;, Higganum Meadows Wildlife Management Area in Haddam; and Nathan Hale State Forest in Coventry, where daily hunting permits are not required.

DEEP also announced that its pheasant stocking program, funded by the sale of 4,748 pheasant stamps in 2011, will release 17,000 adult pheasants, a slight increase over the previous year.

More information can be found in the 2012 Connecticut Hunting and Trapping Guide and the 2012-2013 Migratory Bird Hunting Guide, available at town clerks' offices and DEEP Wildlife Division offices and at: www.ct.gov/deep/hunting.